Create an effective front desk
By Marc H. Sencer, MD

An efficient, patient-friendly front desk is essential to the smooth running and growth of your practice. But many things can interfere with the ideal reception area.

Take this quiz to test your knowledge of front desk “basics.”

Which of the following statements about the front-desk operation are true?

A. For a practice with outsourced collections and 200 visits per week, the front desk should be staffed with a minimum of three individuals.

B. The front-desk functions always include checking patients in and out, and fielding new patient inquiries.

C. The key traits of a front-desk staffer are efficiency and the ability to multitask. These are more important than being a “people-person” who has good communication skills.

D. You should staff front-desk operation with a trusted individual who has been with the practice many years and has developed his or her own front-desk systems.

As you consider the answers, think about the primary purpose of the front desk. Then think about the impression you want your front-desk personnel to make on a newcomer to your practice.

“A” is false. A practice with up to 200 visits a week that outsources billing or has an in-house billing and collections person, needs only two front-desk people.

As your patient flow exceeds 200, two people will not be enough to handle patients at check-in and check-out, especially when phones are ringing.

“B” is true and false. This is a trick question. 

Usually, (but not always) the front-desk personnel handle inquiries from prospective new patients. If your practice receives a large number of inquiries, but only schedules a small percentage for visits, your front-desk staff may not be handling the calls effectively. You may want to delegate this to a trained telephone salesperson.

The same applies if you do a great deal of promotion and advertising. You want a trained, knowledgeable individual to take advantage of these calls.

A trained telephone salesperson is typically not at a front desk, but in a back office or remote location. The person’s job is to “close” prospective new patients who are then routed to the front desk for scheduling and insurance verification.

If your practice is not growing, but you have plenty of inquiries, or if you are thinking of adding another front-desk person due to heavy phone traffic from prospective new patients, consider this option.

“C” is false. Your front-desk staffers create the first impression of your practice and serve as a buffer between patients and professionals. They deal with patient complaints and dissatisfaction.

Good people skills and the ability to communicate patiently are essential characteristics. Remember: You are in a service business. Most patients cannot evaluate your doctor skills other than knowing they “get better,” so their satisfaction depends on whether they feel you care.

They most often get this message from the attitude and behavior of your front-desk staff.

“D” is also false. Although this might seem an ideal situation, this answer is not correct. In this scenario, your front desk may run smoothly and require little attention from you, but you will have created a situation in which you are totally dependent on this one person. If he or she leaves, routine falls apart.

A better scenario is to have a training manual that fully describes all front-desk functions and protocols, and create a group of functions that can be taught to anyone using the manual.

By doing this, the functions remain constant, even if the personnel changes. In a well-run business, no one should be indispensable!

Marc H. Sencer, MD, is the president and founder of MDs for DCs, which provides intensive one-on-one training, medical staffing, and ongoing practice management support to chiropractic integrated practices. He can be reached at 800-916-1462 or www.mdsfordcs.com.